13
votes
Suggestion : browsing keyboard shortcuts
Hi,
I used to browse reddit with the J/K scroll up down the feed or comments keyboard shortcut. Coupled with X for opening media or link and C to get to comments, it was a much more efficient way of navigating the website. As do all vim-like controls like Vimium etc..
There are a lots of more useful keyboard navigation possibilities but i think these are the more needed ones for now.
Why not just use vimium or Vimperator/Conkeror?
Also, it's kinda hard to say that those are needed. I could see wanted being a thing, but not really needed or even necessarily good.
Reddit, to call on your example, doesn't have that behaviour. You have to have the Reddit Enhancement Suite extension, which adds keyboard navigation. With that in mind, it's probably best that you just install the pull of Tildes Extended that @bauke linked.
If nothing else, I don't think it should be default behaviour. Feature bloat's something that happens to almost every site; and things like this are a huge part of that. If you accidentally hit a key on Youtube who knows what will happen, for example. If it's implemented, preferably it'd be hidden behind the settings menu.
I use Tridactyl for Firefox myself, but I can understand wanting some native functionality for it too. The difference is that the extensions are generalized and just allow you to basically click links/buttons in the same way you'd do with a mouse, but built-in keyboard functionality can be specialized for the site specifically and be more intuitive/efficient.
As pointed by commenters before, native tools would fit much better.
I also use vimium for my other browsing needs, but the tools built in RES are much more efficient for reddit use specifically than a general keyboard navigation tweak. Having assigned keyboard shortcut for fixed actions on the page rather than selecting a button with vimium link hint function seems much smoother.
Also scrolling would work differently. viumium would scroll on the page without getting a post in focus. RES navigation make you scroll by getting the post below in focus rather than a "mouse wheel like" scroll.
Using J/K as next/previous is used on more than just reddit though; Facebook, Twitter and YouTube use them too
I'm inclined to agree with you, but it would be possible to implement this as an opt-in feature. Members could switch it on in their settings, much like we can select themes right now.
I acknowledged that in my last sentence, actually.
My bad. Thanks for pointing that out.
No prob, happens to the best of us sometimes.
If i may i add, i see on tildes extended github pages that you intend to add inside topic link navigation by selecting the link with arrow up/down and then entering link.
I prefer the method used by rtv for reddit terminal client where the press of a shortcut trigger a scraper (url-view) that list all links contained in selected text and numbers them for easier access.
Or RES method of link numbers working similarly to vimium link hint function by displaying small numbers next to clickable link to make them directly accessible, is really ergonomic too.
By the way keyboard navigation would fit much better with the minimalistic design of the website. It really reminds me of a terminal client and looks really good and straight to the point.
Having a terminal client would be a really good niche feature one day once the website has grown.